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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019339">Hands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginationisrainbowcoloured/pseuds/imaginationisrainbowcoloured'>imaginationisrainbowcoloured</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Newsies Reincarnation [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Fits in alongside One of Ours, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, M/M, Recovered Memories, Reincarnation, Repressed Memories, hand holding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:41:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginationisrainbowcoloured/pseuds/imaginationisrainbowcoloured</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mush had dreamed of 1899 pretty much his entire life. Every night, he closed his eyes and there they all were, the newsies running around and shouting, throwing papers, or it was afterwards, all of them sitting in Jacobi’s and yelling about how fun it was to be in the papers, or it was even further afterwards, when everyone had abandoned them, and Davey was announcing to them all that they would not trust anyone who wasn’t a newsie. </p>
<p>But the only thing he couldn't remember was who it was he had been in love with, who it was who had held his hand everyday, no matter the consequences.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Kid Blink/Mush Meyers, Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Newsies Reincarnation [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mush had dreamed of 1899 pretty much his entire life. Every night, he closed his eyes and there they all were, the newsies running around and shouting, throwing papers, or it was afterwards, all of them sitting in Jacobi’s and yelling about how fun it was to be in the papers, or it was even further afterwards, when everyone had abandoned them, and Davey was announcing to them all that they would not trust anyone who wasn’t a newsie. </p>
<p>But there was something that connected every dream- the feeling of someone else’s hand in his own and that was what drove him insane. Past Mush had known who was holding his hand, had been utterly and completely in love with whoever it was and that meant that he had never felt the need to look at whoever was holding his hand. The gentle pressure had been enough. He knew some things, that whoever it was had to be a newsie, that they were a boy, and that they had been pushing their luck to even hold hands in public, but he didn’t know what they looked like. He must have seen them in the mass of newsies, but without the pressure on his hand, his memories weren’t enough to work out which of the ever-changing faces it was.</p>
<p>He didn’t tell the others that, even if he was pretty certain that they would be able to tell him who it was because it was a little embarrassing- hey, I was in love with this person last time, but I can only remember what it felt like to hold hands with them. It wasn’t something that he really wanted to admit, and short of going around and holding hands with everyone at Kloppman’s, he didn’t have any way of identifying them.</p>
<p>There were a few people it obviously wasn’t- it wasn’t any of the girls, he knew that easily, it wasn’t Jack because he was always talking about Davey and hopefully finding him one day, and by that logic it wasn’t Davey either. Some people were too young- Crutchie, Les, all of the younger kids- and it obviously wasn’t Race or Spot because they were utterly wrapped up in each other, and they didn’t do handholding either. By the time he was fifteen, Mush had resigned himself to never knowing who his true love had been.<br/>“Guess what!” Jack ran up to a few of them in the corridor at school, panting and obviously incredibly excited.</p>
<p>“What?” Romeo asked, the only one willing to put up with Jack’s shit that day. The rest of them were turning away to let Romeo take the brunt of whatever stupid idea Jack had come up with but stopped when he gasped out his next words.</p>
<p>“Davey’s here.”</p>
<p>“What?” they all chorused, confused but oddly hopeful.</p>
<p>“Davey’s here!” Jack repeated, practically vibrating out of his shoes. “And Sarah, and Les.”</p>
<p>“Holy shit.” Someone said, it could have been any of them because they were all thinking the same thing. </p>
<p>Jack said something else, about Hannah and Romeo and Hotshot and showing them around but Mush didn’t catch it because someone slipped their hand into his and squeezed in that achingly familiar way. The bell went, and the hand was gone, and by the time he looked around, it could have been anyone.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Blink was in front of him and waving slightly, “you good?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, what have we got first?”</p>
<p>Blink didn’t look like he quite believed him, but he answered the question and changed the topic to the Jacobses as they walked. Mush hmmed at all the correct points and answered questions in class, his hand wrote down any notes they were supposed to be making, but his brain was a million miles away, thinking about the familiar pressure, the calm happiness that he had expected to only feel in his dreams.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Jack was slightly more subdued at the end of the school day, as was Katherine, and it was obvious even before they all gathered at Kloppman’s that the Jacobses did not remember. Crutchie confirmed his agreement after befriending Les- saying that Les might remember some, but the twins did not- and there was an odd sort of cloud that hung over them all for the rest of the day. They had never found someone before who didn’t remember.</p>
<p>That night, Mush curled up in his bunk with his hands wrapped together, thinking about the hand-holding stranger who wasn’t a stranger, and tried to ignore Jack’s muffled sobs.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>“Davey Jacobs.” Kloppman said, a fond smile on his face as he approached him.</p>
<p>There was some stuttering from everyone, some confused yelling, everyone started asking questions and, out of the corner of his eye, Mush saw Sarah and Kath leaning in for a brief kiss and pressing their foreheads together, whispering to each other. It was a touching scene and it settled something crooked in Mush that had been there since they had realised that not everyone would remember.</p>
<p>“Look.” Blink whispered next to him. Davey and Jack were hugging as if their lives depended on that physical contact and Davey looked about three seconds away from crying.</p>
<p>“That’s everyone, right?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Blink said as a hand slipped into Mush’s, utterly familiar, “That’s everyone.”</p>
<p>Mush looked down at their joined hands and laughed, although it came out more as a sob. “It’s you. Of course, it’s you.”</p>
<p>"It's me." Blink whispered back, looking into his eyes. “You remember now?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” He squeezed Blink’s hand. “I missed this.”</p>
<p>“I missed you.”</p>
<p>“I’m right here.” Mush leaned in to press their foreheads together and closed his eyes as all his memories slowly reoriented themselves to fit the new information. “I’m right here.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>lmao when ur in the h**pital for 2 weeks and accidentally don't write anything for nearly a month anyway, here is something i came up with. tell me ur thoughts.</p>
<p>what do u want from this series???? lord knows i don't know where im going so</p></blockquote></div></div>
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